Swearer Center for Public Service
Bonner Community Fellowship
Structure
Student's participation in the Bonner Community Fellowship (BCF) will consist of civic engagement within the Providence and Rhode Island communities, co-curricular learning workshops and regular cohort and fellowship meetings. These three components come together to help students develop and grow as students, citizens and activists in service of our communities.
- Participate in the program for your four years at Brown, for approximately 5-7 hours per week.
- Engage in regular community and civic engagement opportunities.
- Attend all BCF activities, which include:
- A Bonner pre-orientation.
- Weekly learning community sessions.
- Bonner All-Call meetings.
- One engaged summer.
- Reflect, learn and grow as you engage with different communities and peers.
- Short and Long-term volunteer opportunities.
- Internships or other community-identified projects.
- Community-Based Learning and Research courses (CBLR).
- Leadership roles within the BCF and Swearer Center.
- Leadership and Networking opportunities with the national Bonner Network.
- Other ways to serve the community that you identify.
Eligibility
We seek to develop a diverse team of students united by their desire to engage in community service.
- Opportunities to reflect, learn, and grow as you create a positive impact in your community.
- Learning spaces to help you think critically about power, privilege, and change.
- Training and workshops for skills you can use at Brown and beyond.
- Access to mentors, advisers, and a network of local community partners.
- Leadership opportunities.
- Opportunity to join a cohort of students who share a commitment to advancing justice.
- A sense of belonging and support.
- A need-based stipend to help support your work every semester that you are part of the program.
Accepted students are eligible for a stipend to support their engagement.
Incoming first-year undergraduates at Brown who are passionate about community engagement and willing to commit to the program for their entire undergraduate degree. Past experience is not a requirement.
Apply
The Bonner Community Fellowship application opens every May in UFunds.
You will have the opportunity to answer these questions in essay form (300 word maximum) or as an audio recording (3 minutes maximum).
- Bonner Fellows are passionate about social justice and civic engagement. What are some issues you are passionate about? Why are they important to you? What do you want to do about them?
- Rubric Area: Social Justice
- Community engagement is an integral part of the BCF. How do you define community? Who are your communities? Share an example of a time when you worked to serve any one of them; it does not have to be a formal experience, just one that was meaningful to you.
- Rubric Area: Community Engagement
- Power, privilege, and the intersection of identities inform and affect all aspects of our lives. Please share an example of when you had to consider power, privilege, and identity when you worked with others. How did you respond? How did it affect you? How did it affect other people?
- Rubric Area: Power, Privilege, and Identity
- Bonner Fellows are leaders. What does leadership mean to you? How do you imagine yourself being a leader in your community and in the Bonner Community Fellowship? How will you get there?
- Rubric Area: Leadership
- An essential component of the BCF is the cohort experience. Describe a time when you felt in community with your peers. What happened? What did you learn? What did your peers learn?
- Rubric Area: Community Building
- The BCF is a 4-year commitment. Describe a time when you committed yourself to a long-term opportunity. How did you approach it and stay committed even when it was hard? What did you learn about yourself?
- Rubric Area: Commitment and Resilience
- Why the BCF? What are you hoping to learn? What do you want to do as a Bonner Fellow? How can the BCF help you grow?
- Rubric Area: Growth and Potential